FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to surveillance systems and more particularly to such systems which are particularly useful to hospitals with newborns to be protected from unauthorized removal.
Theft, switching or unauthorized removal of newborns has become a great concern to hospitals and expectant parents. The need for some type of method or device to economically reduce newborn abduction or switching has resulted in the creation of various techniques or devices to deter such acts. One of the simpler, but more expensive and less effective, methods to reduce infant switching or unauthorized removal is to simply increase hospital staff in the postpartem area. The disadvantages of such a method are readily apparent. In order to overcome these disadvantages, various electronic or electo-magnetic devices have been attached to newborns and have been employed to provide warning of unauthorized removal of the newborns or a means of tracking the movements of the newborns. Therefore, various types of radio transmitters and electronic security tags or transponders have been attached to newborns to determine when the newborn has been removed from a defined area.
One example of a system for deterring unauthorized removal of a newborn which employs a radio transmitter is INFANT WATCH (c) (sic) available from Ramco Security Systems, Inc. of Gaithersburg, Md. The INFANT WATCH (c) (sic) system uses a band to attach a miniature wireless transmitter to the arm or leg of an infant and a radio receiver and alarm system to indicate when the signal from the transmitter has been lost because of unauthorized removal of the infant from the predefined area or because the band has been cut. A patient tracking system which uses a similar concept is Hawkins, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,814,751 issued Mar. 21, 1989. The French publication No. 2 543 715 of Mar. 30, 1983 to Mayer appears to disclose a surveillance system which likewise incorporates a radio transmitter and receiver to indicate when a child or object goes beyond a certain range.
Other newborn protection systems, e.g. SEKURMED .TM. available from Security Tag Systems, Inc. of St. Petersburg, Fla., use a band to attach electronic security tags to the wrist or ankle of a newborn and proximity sensors and alarms to indicate when the newborn has been removed from a predefined area. The electronic tag used in SEKURMED .TM. is of the type described in Charlot, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,428 issued Nov. 6, 1984 and/or Herman, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,670,740 issued June 2, 1987.
Both the radio transmitter devices and the electronic tag devices described above illustrate that it is well-known in the art of newborn security to use a band to attach the devices commonly used in the electronic article surveillance industry to the wrist or ankle of a newborn. However, there are certain disadvantages in using a band to attach a security device to the wrist or ankle of a newborn. Often newborns experience weight loss immediately after birth which may result in the band loosening and falling off of the wrist or ankle. Also, a person wishing to remove a baby or switch babies could stretch or cut the bands to remove them from the baby, and thus, means to prevent this possibility need to be incorporated into the band. Also, the bands can inhibit bathing and intravenous treatment of the newborn.
It is well-known that immediately after a baby is born that its umbilical cord is typically clamped with a device called an umbilical or funis clamp. After the use of umbilical clamps became common practice, it was recognized that it was desirable to create umbilical clamps with locking features to prevent accident release and unauthorized removal of the clamp once it is attached. Examples of such clamps are described in Kariher, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,204,636 issued Sept. 7, 1965, Schneider, U.S. Pat. No. 3,247,852 issued Apr. 26, 1966 and Nolan, U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,303 issued July 15, 1980. The locking features of the above mentioned and other well-known umbilical clamps render such clamps desirable as a means of attaching an electronic article surveillance device to a newborn.
This invention recognizes that the use of electronic article surveillance devices with newborns is common and also recognizes that the use of locking umbilical clamps on newborns is common and combines these two uses to create a new, nonobvious device and method for protecting newborns.